Inventor of Gatorade, Dr. Cade, dies at age 80

Note, the doctor was working at the University of Florida when he invented this drink. Just one example of many of the innovations made in the public sector--which flies in the face of the claim that the quest for private profits are required to be innovative or motivated.

Re: Inventor of Gatorade, Dr. Cade, dies at age 80

I wonder how much grant money from private firms financed research at his lab over the years? Research relies on private enterprise and to willingness of those companies to donate money for research. Maybe Gatorade was not privately funded, but I can promise you that a lot of research in that lab was funded by private grants -- that's how research works.

Re: Inventor of Gatorade, Dr. Cade, dies at age 80

Originally Posted by skipster

I wonder how much grant money from private firms financed research at his lab over the years? Research relies on private enterprise and to willingness of those companies to donate money for research. Maybe Gatorade was not privately funded, but I can promise you that a lot of research in that lab was funded by private grants -- that's how research works.

Re: Inventor of Gatorade, Dr. Cade, dies at age 80

Yep, I've heard that private dollars have a chemical make-up that is different than that of public dollars--which, when held to the forehead in the lab, motivates those scientists to do more than they would have done otherwise.

Re: Inventor of Gatorade, Dr. Cade, dies at age 80

I don't believe I mentioned anythign about motivation or the efficacy of public or private dollars here. All I'm saying is that public university research is not always publicly funded. In my lab, it is rarely publicly funded. We get just enough money to pay the professor and that's it. The money that pays the graduate students, covers the equipment and supplies, and covers our expenses for publication and travel all comes from grants to do research.

Private profits may not always be directly tied to research, but they are an integral part.

Re: Inventor of Gatorade, Dr. Cade, dies at age 80

The research that led to Gatorade was not funded privately nor was if funded publicly by teh federal government. The story is one of the quirkiest involving a billion dollar product.

Back in '65, a U Florida Gator assistant football coach asked to meet with some of the medical faculty of the university and asked them to determine why so many of his players were being affected by heat and heat related illnesses.

There were four doc's involved, Dr. Cade being one of them. They determined the fluids and electrolytes the players lost through sweat were not being replaced, and the large amounts of carbohydrates the players? bodies used for energy were not being replenished.

They went back to their labs and concocted a mix that would replenish the electrolytes and carbs....and they named it Gatoraid.

Cade offered the discovery to the university but they declined to accept, so Cade and the group created their own company. Soon after recognizing the complicated process to manufacture the drink they sold their interest to another company, Stokley, for an equity share. The name was changed to Gatorade by the marketers.

Once the university saw the marketability of the product, they staked a position of ownership since university assets were used to make the discovery. Ulitmately the university won out and negotiated a share of the profits conveyed trhrough a licensing agreement.

(FYI Cade offered the product to Coca Cola up the road in Atlanta and Coke declined.)

Today the value of that licensing brings the university about $12,000,000 per year and over $200,000,000 since it hit the market back in the late 60's. The income has funded a wealth of research for the university. It provided the initial cashflow for the university office of technology licensing which has current licensing deals evolving from university research that generate over $40,000,000 in income for the university research foundation.

Uniquely, there is no patent on the formula though the name has been trademarked. Anyone can produce the product you just can't call it Gatorade.

Also, The federal government through the National Institutes for Health and National Science Foundation provide more research funding to universities than all of the privately funded research combined. The income for any discoveries made through federally funded research is retained by the university, not shared with the Feds. It just happens that Gatorade is not one of them.